Blogging for the Gray Wolf

Yellowstone’s Lamar Canyon alpha female, also known as the 06 female or 832F, was shot to death last Thursday, December 6. Her pack mate, wolf 754 on the right, was killed on November 10th….Photo Doug McLaughlin, NYT

The iconic alpha female of the Lamar Canyon Pack, is dead. 832F, was shot to death 15 miles outside of Yellowstone, joining the other collared and un-collared park wolves who’ve had their lives snuffed out in the hunts. Her death saddened people around the world. She was widely known as the 06 Female.

“She is was the most famous wolf in the world,” said Jimmy Jones, a wildlife photographer who lives in Los Angeles and whose portrait of 832F appears in the current issue of the magazine American Scientist….New York Times

06 was the granddaughter of the legendary Druid Peak Pack alpha pair, 21M and 42F.

Will her passing awake a sleeping America to the horrors of the wolf hunts that are not only killing iconic Yellowstone wolves but another 600 wolves in just over three months since the hunts began?

Let her death be a rallying cry for all the lost wolves!

Flood the US Capital with phone calls, contact your Senators and Representatives. Keep the faxes and emails coming. We can make a difference. Wolves must be re-listed or their howls will be silenced forever in the lower forty-eight and Yellowstone wolves will be doomed to live on an island, reducing their chances of genetic connectivity with other wolves living outside the park, who are being subjected to brutal hunting and trapping.

No wolf is safe in America.

STOP THE HUNTS!!

Aug 18, 2011

“This is a video of the Alpha female of the Lamar Canyon Pack (06) on a kill near Slough Creek in Lamar Valley on July 24, 2011. This was shortly after she treed a black bear.”

===

‘Famous’ Wolf Is Killed Outside Yellowstone

By NATE SCHWEBER

Published: December 8, 2012

The wolf, known as 832F to researchers, was the alpha female of the park’s highly visible Lamar Canyon pack and had become so well-known that some wildlife watchers referred to her as a “rock star.” The animal had been a tourist favorite for most of the past six years.

The wolf was fitted with a $4,000 collar with GPS tracking technology, which is being returned, said Daniel Stahler, a project director for Yellowstone’s wolf program. Based on data from the wolf’s collar, researchers knew that her pack rarely ventured outside the park, and then only for brief periods, Dr. Stahler said.

‘World’s most famous wolf’ shot and killed outside Yellowstone

===

Montana FWP finally relented and extended a buffer zone around Yellowstone National Park for the remainder of the hunt and trapping season. I’m sure their phone lines were burning down from an outraged public, after the killing of the 06 Female and 6 other collared Yellowstone wolves. She was the most famous, well-known wolf in Yellowstone, known around the world. Her loss will be acutely felt, not only by her human admirers but her pack, who are now left without their powerful leader. BUT it doesn’t change the fact that wolves in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and the Great Lakes are still under siege. There is no buffer zone for them. Idaho is trapping and snaring wolves, Montana’s wolf trapping season starts in 5 days, Wisconsin’s wolf hunt continues and the state is still pushing to hunt wolves with dogs…..only a court injunction stopped it but a hearing is scheduled on December 20th to revisit the issue, Minnesota is trapping and killing wolves and Michigan is moving ahead with legislation to hold a wolf hunt.

Please get active and oppose the wolf hunts!!! Nothing will change if we sit silently by! Hold the politicians and feds, who are responsible for this travesty, accountable!

Resist…as much as I admired 06 and am truly heartbroken over her death, we can’t forget the non-park wolves that we also love and care about. They have no escape from the cruelty and barbarism. So if people will rally around 06 and use her death as a battle cry that we’re sick and tired of this and we want the wolf slaughter stopped. Can you even imagine how many phone calls MT FWP received over this? She was on the cover of this month’s Scientific American for god sakes. If that pressure worked for buffer zones it can work for relisting. We just need the same kind of energy and outrage over the lost 600 as we got for the park’s collared wolves.

Anastasia…it’s not the American people, it’s a small majority of trophy hunters, ranchers and outfitters who’ve hijacked our wolves and have friends in Congress ready to do their bidding. We were not ready for how well organized they were but we’ve learned our lesson. We will see wolves relisted.

Reblogged this on Carinas Hemlighus and commented:
I feel sad reading in the news about the fate of our great predators today. Hunted, poached and killed – all around the world. When are we going to wake up and realize that they will all soon be gone forever??

gryphon9…we can stop this and we will, we are the majority, it’s just other side infinitely more organized and well funded but the grass roots movement is awake and we’re not going anywhere until we win!!

Oh my God. So much hope and study and money, so much time and effort, so much international fame and beauty. Such a tourist attraction. Oh, my god, oh, my god. What kind of a stupid … beyod words. Sorry

An outrage. Emails and petitions seem to be a way of life for some of us lately. What is the solution? The most hopeful (though clearly not immediate) idea seems to be via the use of the PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE which Mack Bray of WILDLIFE WATCHERS was kind enough to explain to me. The hope is that it can be expanded into a WILDLIFE PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE which would be favorable to all of us, not specifically the hntiing/trapping minority. Mack feels that this should be the future of wildlife “management” and will need to be addressed by each state’s attorneys general.
Obviously a long-term goal, but one that must begin immediately. Mack states that in his opinion “we’re in a culture war and we’ll win this war on 3 battlegrounds: 1) education of our children; 2) the voting booth and 3) the courtroom.
I believe that staying proactive and remaining resolved is key to our success – for the wolves and all wildlife.

Gail..I believe Mark is definitely on the right track. We are in a culture war…people are standing up for wildlife like never before and the other side is fighting back just as hard. The wolf is a scapegoat, the Europeans brought wolf hatred with them when they landed here and it’s never left.

06 or 832 was a magnificent wolf and I’m sure there are others out there like her but we don’t know them like we knew her. I read about her daily life every day for 2 1/2 years and she was the leader of her pack. She could take down and elk by herself, she was a wonderful mother and provider (her pups were always happy and well fed). She was a thinker and kept her pack safe from other packs and was slow to battle other wolves- she was strategically wise and smart. She kept her pack together- everyone accounted for, she was a tireless provider and leader. This is a tragity for those who watched her but more importantly for her pack that without her and 754 the beta male are now 11 members with out a mother and alpha female for 755 the alpha male. The pack is now in question as to its survival.
She was shot in the trophy area of Wyoming just east of Yellowstone park- the wolf quota in that area was 8. The beta male 754 was #7 and she was the 8th and last wolf allowed to be short for the season.
There were 6 other collared Yellowtone wolves kill in Montana just outside the park. Every wolf in a pack is important to the pack. The puppies bring such joy to wolves, even the males have hormones that make them love and care and play with them. This next year 06 will not give the Lamar Canyon pack their happy pups.
This is the way of wolves, they are families, they take care of themselves.
O6 never did a thing wrong- no livestock taken nothing- she did everything right except venture into the wrong area outside an invisible park boundry, possibly looking for her beta male 754 who was shot not far from where she was taken.
So many people do not realize the family- pack structure of wolves and how they love and care for each other. People need to be educated. The Yellowstone Park wolves have been a petrie dish of learning about the wolves. We know so much more about them and the good they do for the environment and also about their behavior.
So, yes, lets call the senators, call the offical in Wyoming – Fish and Wildlife, the Govenor of WY- pound them with calls.
For beloved 06F and 754M of the Lamar Canyon Pack and all the wolves. We love wolves!

Thank you Jane for that moving summary of 06 and 754. Ed Bangs, retired wolf recovery coordinator, USFWS, once said: “Wolves are the parents, the mothers, the fathers, the brothers and sisters that we always hoped we could be. I mean there’s extreme loyalty among family members, it’s everything to them.”

She was an amazing wolf ida.. a great mother, one of the best hunters in the park, a good provider, an amazing leader of her pack. Now she and her beta male are gone. Someone said the reason she left the park could have been to find her beta male, who had been killed a month earlier. How sad that would be if that were the case. The pack rarely left the park so being the tremendous alpha she was, that’s entirely possible.

I am heart-broken to hear this news of yet another unimaginable loss of life due to selfish, egotistical, blood-thirsty individuals calling themselves human. May her beautiful soul be roaming freely in the wilderness. I will continue to support all efforts to stop these cruel and damaging attacks on our mother and her children.

“I can’t believe some of you.. I live in a small community outside of
yellowstone. We lose 110 head of cattle a year because of wolves. You all that say they don’t hunt for fun you need to do some research. Wolves poach other animals. They kill for fun! Do your research!! They have come into our town and have killed our pets, and our livestock… What’s next our children on there way to school? Don’t #$%$ about us taking a wolves life. Its not like we do it for fun we do it to protect our land!”

“Wolves are nothing but a menace. Ask the people who live in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. They find countless whitetail deer that have been killed by wolves and just left to lay. The wolves just kill them for the fun of it. You tree huggers dont get it”

“Here is the breakdown folks. If hunting doesn’t happen, animals overpopulate. When an animal overpopulate’s its food source runs out. When its food source runs out they all die!!! Do your part in the circle!”

“Good riddance. These things are nothing but an appetite with feet.”

“Has anyone seen an animal starve to death?? It is pretty gruesome. Study after study proves that over population is a bad thing. Yes the
wolf population is not out of control right now, but it is on its way if it is not controlled now before it is too late.”

“Children starving everywhere but the Humane society is going to waste money suing over a legally killed wolf. What is wrong with this
country?!!” (This came from a user who has an icon of a man clubbing a seal)

“Interesting that the article failed to mention that Wolves have killed 70% of the Yellowstone elk herd over the past few years. This has also been repeated throughout Montana and other local states. They don’t need to be eliminated just controled through reasonable hunting regulations. The Human Society would like to eliminate all hunting in the U.S. Can you guess what would happen if this took place? This is why we should leave this to Fish and Game not the general public who are think with their hearts not brains”

“All of you who think the wolves are so beautiful and should be protected. A: dont leave near them and have never seen them and B:
dont see what they do to the Elk and Deer heards. Wolves are no different than any other animal. If they are not endangered, hunt em. BTW, they are not endangered. I see them all the time in Idaho.”
(My response: “I see people all the time, and the little voice in my head tells me to shoot up the workplace. Nice logic.”)

“How is it that liberal tree huggers are ok with wolves going onto
ranchers’ properties, and killing their cattle, but they join peta to protest people slaughtering those same cattle for food? Liberalism truly is a mental disorder.”

“These animals were NOT Re-instated. They brought Candadian wolves in which are too big and aggressive and they are depleting the other natural big game I used to love to see here in Idaho. I have not seen a moose in the wild in a very long time and they used to be easy to spot on camping trips and the elk population is a lot smaller also. Let the states manage their own wild life and keep Washington out of the equation.”

The Yellowstone Wolf Project is administered by the State of Montana and Wildlife Biologists from local universities.
It is an outrage that a hunter would be allowed to kill a radio collared wolf in any state.
Hunters should be heavily fined for doing so, should have their hunting licenses suspended, and should not be allowed to keep the wolf that they killed.
Maybe then, the hunter would look carefully before taking a shot.
That delay time would allow wolves a chance to get away to safety.
There is too much abuse and poaching of animals in Montana and it is time that hunters be held accountable for their actions.
Toni Stark
Truth About Wolves

This is getting out of hand, these beast called hunters, don’t even get the right to be called human anymore, we should find them all and arrest them and give them life in prison or the death sentence, this is plain and simple murder, or we take away there guns and aloud them to be hunted, plain and simple in my eyes if you kill a innocent sentient being then you are not even human, you are slime, no worse you give all the bad words in the English language a really bad rap.

oopsjohn…she was uncollared until the beginning of 2012, I believe. Unfortunately the Lamar Canyon pack’s territory was close to the park’s Northern border, although the pack did not often leave the park. Some have speculated she left the park to look for her beta male 754, who had been killed the month before.

Bobette..I think the buffer zone is east and west of Gardiner….I hope people don’t forget the 06 Female’s death and it will serve as a rallying cry to help all the wolves outside the park. What I’m worried about is people who are only focused on Yellowstone wolves will now go back to sleep and forget about the wolves who are suffering outside Yellowstone…Montana’s trapping season starts on Saturday.

I fought hard in the 80’s to getting the Yellowstone Packs rebuilt and released, and will continue to do so. But it is getting to the point with some of these groups that supporting them is either useless or needs to be stepped up.
Im tired of reading about my children being executed for no reason, they have done nothing to deserve this, but the calls go unanswered as the blood continues to flow.
SAVE WOLVES, DELIST CONGRESS should be a battle cry…

I was wondering if there were any celebrities that can voice this cause? Seems like if someone famous and in the public eye right now could get our voice heard.
Also this is a technical question. I don’t know a lot about wolves but I was wondering about the pack dynamics with the loss of an Alpha member. This whole killing has to mess with the survival of the pack.

Thanks,
Mark

PS. If I knew any celebrities I would definitely try to get their help.

Lamenting for more wolf kills. I have nothing more useful to say but N, please post the following link or this excerpt? Thanks if you can.

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., to stop the slaughter of more gray wolves. Here are some excerpts from their post (url at the end if you’d rather go their site):

“…With five active lawsuits to stop wolf killing in Oregon, Wyoming, the Southwest and Minnesota, the Center is the only group in the country fighting to save all four gray wolf populations in the contiguous United States. We’ll soon be filing suit to save Alaska’s beautiful Alexander Archipelago wolf as well.

Only 58 gray wolves survive in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico. We can’t afford to let a single one be killed. Wolf numbers are so low that at this point we’re fighting to save the entire Mexican gray wolf subspecies from going extinct.
…Please help by donating generously to the Center’s Save the Endangered Species Act Fund today. All gifts right now will be matched by a leading board member to make your gift go twice as far.”

“…in the Southwest. Due to shooting, trapping and political opposition by the livestock industry, the recovery program has completely stalled out. Only 58 wolves exist in the wild, yet the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not only doing nothing to boost the population — it is trapping some of the last survivors. …Wolf numbers are so low that at this point we’re fighting to save the entire Mexican gray wolf subspecies from going extinct.”

“…Last month we filed suit to force the government to implement wolf protections recommended by its own scientific panel more than 10 years ago. This morning we filed suit to make the government manage the Southwest’s wolves as a unique subspecies, requiring that a new recovery strategy be developed.

It was the Center’s legal work that got Mexican wolves released into the wild back in 1998. These wolves again need our help to keep their rightful place on the landscape.

It takes tremendous resources to fight these legal battles, especially on five fronts at once. Please help us save these precious gray wolves by contributing as much as you can afford to our Save the Endangered Species Act Fund today — and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by our generous board member. ..

“As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures, there
can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and
justice cannot dwell together.” Isaac Bashevis Singer, Holocaust
Survivor

“Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man
will not himself find peace.” Albert Schweitzer

Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well
being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are
small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.
Martin Luther King, Jr

628 WOLVES HAVE BEEN TORTURED TO
DEATH SINCE SEPTEMBER….INCLUDING PREGNANT MOMS AND PUPS and WOLVES
WITH RADIO COLLARS WHO HAD BEEN “YELLOWSTONE ROCK STARS”!!!WHERE’S
EVERYONE’S “AMERICAN VALUES”?

This has nothing to do with livestock depredations! Wolves account for
less than 1%.(since the government compensates ranchers for losses ONLY FROM WOLVES, folks “cry wolf”) Competition for food? REALLY? JUST LIES/MYTHS PURPORTED
BY SPECIAL INTERESTS= RANCHERS/HUNTERS WHO ARE UNAMERICAN AND SATANIC
PSYCHOPATHS!
WOLVES ARE VITAL FOR HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS – THEY KEEP “GAME” HERDS MOVING SO THAT GRASSES/TREES AND SONGBIRDS THRIVE, AS WELL AS THE “GAME” HERDS – THEY HUNT THE SICK/OLD…..UNLIKE MAN!

WOLVES ARE SOCIAL, INTELLIGENT AWARE AND MATE FOR LIFE – THEY TEACH AND CARE FOR THEIR YOUNG AND ARE LOYAL TO THEIR FAMILIES/PACKS/COMMUNITIES – UNLIKE MAN!

WHAT THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE DEMAND:
RELIST WOLVES! BAN TRAPS & SNARES (there’s no place in a
Judaeo/Christian society for these barbaric devices of torture).
REPEAL THE TAYLOR GRAZING ACT! REPLACE SALAZAR WITH CONGRESSMAN RAUL
GRIJALVA! CLOSE WILDLIFE SERVICES!

My Dad, a German Jew, who left Nazi Germany for the USA at age 22 in
Nov 37 raised me that if I witnessed something wrong. I HAD TO DO
SOMETHING ABOUT IT or I was complicit (condoning it).I am WITNESSING SOMETHING
VERY WRONG – GENOCIDE OF WOLVES AND WILD HORSES……the USFWS, (Idaho
Montana Wyoming, Minnesota, & Wisconsin FWS, DNR,. & Forest Services
WA FWS. NM FWS & Wildlife Services of the Dept of Agriculture (which
should be closed/defunded. would save us taxpayer dollars being used
against our will). BLM, the Beef Industry/Cattlemens Assns along with
hunters/trappers (WHEN 94.5% OF THE COUNTRY DOES NOT HUNT) and ALEC
(the same folks who brought us STAND YOUR GROUND & VOTER SUPPRESSION )
& the NRA are the NAZIS this time and WOLVES are the JEWS !!!!!!!!

You can judge a country by the way in which it treats its animals – Ghandi.

Just excellent Nikki…thank you for speaking out for the voiceless, this is truly a wolf holocaust. I hope CNN picks up the story, now the election is over and they don’t have to worry about Obama being attached to the wolf delisting, maybe they’ll finally wake up and give attention to this travesty.

If the complaint against wolves is that they have exceeded their numerical target, then wouldn’t other forms of management work? What about birth control. It has been suggested for other species. Is it effective?

This thesis discusses the concept of using fertility control in wolf management. It’s too long to go over all the details here, but basically it suggests that fertility control can be useful in wolf control:

Some wildlife managers and biologists consider fertility control to be a more humane, effective, and cost-efficient method of managing wildlife populations, not just for wolves but for other species as well. Unfortunately, Fish and Game agencies tend to oppose its usage:

Those are just two examples of Fish and Game Agency opposition that I can find. Predictably, hunters also oppose using fertility control.

I definitely agree on how alternative methods, such as fertility control, should be used in managing wildlife populations. In fact, when I’m a biologist, I’m going to promote its usage. But if we want fertility control and other alternative methods of humane, wildlife management to be used, then we are going to have to fight hard against hunters and the Fish and Game Agencies, who want hunting to be the major form of wildlife management.

Tragic death. I really wish that I had the chance to see 832F, but that will never happen now. I have never her before, but from what I’ve read and seen (from photos and videos), 832F seems like she was a wonderful alpha female. She is also a very beautiful wolf; big, strong, and majestic. She did not deserve to lose her life like this.

It’s nice to see that the Montana FWP decided to put up a buffer zone around some parts of Yellowstone in response to this. There needs to be a buffer zone around Yellowstone and all other national parks, not just for wolves but for all species of wildlife that are hunted and/or trapped. The thought of hunters waiting outside the parks for unwary animals is sickening! Also, the hunting of collared wolves and other animals needs to be banned (at the very least – a ban on sport-hunting in general would be better).

Its hard to see through my tears, Why Why Why ????? all the death? What is it in man that makes him have to KILL? Wolves
matter! their lives matter! they have more right to live than the the filthy murderers with the guns, A wolf killer has the same sickness
that guns down little children at school !!!!!

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This blog is dedicated to the memory of Wolf 253, the beloved Yellowstone Druid wolf named Limpy, who was shot and killed in March 08, on the very day ESA protections were lifted for the gray wolf, by the then Bush Administration.